Warriors open state tourney against defending state champs

WASILLA — Wasilla’s 2014 state tournament will start with the team that’s finished each of the last two state events with the top prize.

The Warriors open play against two-time defending state champion Dimond Thursday at 7:30 p.m. during the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank State Hockey Championships at Menard Arena in Wasilla.

“Dimond is the best team in the state as off last weekend,” Wasilla head coach Trent Schachle said of the Lynx, who won the Cook Inlet Conference title with a victory over South Anchorage last Saturday. “Obviously we’re going to have to work hard, play our game, play harder than we have before.”

Dimond enters the tournament as the CIC No. 1 seed. Wasilla, which suffered a 3-2 four-overtime loss to Soldotna in Homer last Saturday, is the No. 2 seed from the North Star Conference. Mid-Alaska Conference champion West Valley and West Anchorage, the No. 4 seed from the CIC, share the top half of the bracket with Dimond and Wasilla. North Star champ Soldotna faces Chugiak, the No. 3 seed from the CIC, on the bottom half. South Anchorage (CIC No. 2) and Lathrop (MAC No. 2) are also on the bottom half of the bracket.

Wasilla enters the championship with a 5-3 mark against teams in the tournament. The Warriors played everyone in the field except West Valley. Wasilla’s three losses all came against Soldotna. The Stars blanked Wasilla 3-0, beat Wasilla 3-2 in overtime during the regular season, and scored the four-overtime win in the North Star title game. In that game, Wasilla outshot the Stars 58-20.

“We just ran into a solid goaltender. He played awesome,” Schachle said. “That happens.”

One of Wasilla’s five wins against tournament teams came against Dimond. The Warriors beat the Lynx 3-2 in November. The victory shows that Wasilla is capable of beating the two-time defending state champs, but Schachle said a lot of hockey has been played since the teams met in November.

“That our kids beat them definitely helps our confidence, but every game is different,” Schachle said. “They’ll be ready to play us. We need to be ready to play them. It should be a good game.”